News Flashes

Compuware Corporation, a technology performance tools company, has made enhancements to the Compuware Workbench, a standardized point-and-click mainframe application development interface. The Workbench is now configured to deliver faster and more efficient file and data management capabilities, the vendor says. This includes the ability to edit complex IMS databases, as well as debugging functionality, all designed to significantly boost developer productivit

GT Software, a provider of enterprise modernization solutions, announced the general availability of its NEO Suite family of products. The release features updates that improve user experience and includes splash screens, user interfaces and documentation enhancements. With the release of NEObatch v3.2, NEOkicks v3.2, and NEOdata v2.1, the NEO suite of products is now compatible with Microsoft Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, and the .NET 4.0 and 4.5 frameworks. The new product versions are also compatible with the recently released Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET v5.0 compiler and runtime, which allows customers to also take advantage of Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.

Heirloom Computing Inc. has formed a new partnership with Java Platform as a Service (PaaS) provider CloudBees to speed the transition of mainframe workloads to the CloudBees PaaS. With the partnership, Heirloom will deploy COBOL-based mainframe workloads to the cloud, using Heirloom Elastic COBOL and the CloudBees Platform.

IBM reports a surge in mainframe sales in the most recent quarter, surpassing all previous quarters. This announcement was part of the company's release of quarterly and annual results. Overall, total quarterly revenue was down 1% from last year, and down 2% for the year.

SilverSky, a provider of information security solutions, is combining the assets of Perimeter E-Security and USA.NET into a unified brand focused on delivering an advanced security-as-a-service platform. SilverSky manages, secures and monitors corporate information assets with a portfolio of software and managed services, delivered through its unified policy-aware platform.

TransLattice has joined the Cisco Developer Network as a registered developer within the Physical Infrastructure technology category. In addition, two products, TransLattice Application Platform v.2.5 and TransLattice Elastic Database v.2.5, have successfully completed interoperability testing with Blades (B-series). The TransLattice Application Platform (TAP) creates a high-performance computing fabric from a cluster of affordable commodity servers that work cooperatively to ensure applications and associated data are always available.

Attachmate announced MobileNow, the company's new mobile strategy that is intended to optimize the company's line of enterprise software products so that mainframe and legacy applications can be extended to mobile devices. Attachmate MobileNow delivers corporate data while providing tools for encrypting data, controlling access and monitoring for fraudulent use. The MobileNow approach does not require critical mainframe and legacy applications to be re-factored for mobile, resulting in quicker time-to-market and lower costs, according to Tom Bice, vice president of marketing and product management at Attachmate.

William Data Systems (WDS) will showcase the latest release of ZEN TRACE & SOLVE (ZTS) for z/OS mainframe networks at SHARE in San Francisco this week. ZTS, formerly known as EXIGENCE, provides new features to help z/OS sites deliver more, in a shorter time, using fewer resources and with less cost. According to the company, the main advantage of ZTS's latest release is its advanced web-browser interface with flexible data presentation for easier use and more intuitive ways of working. In addition to helping more experienced technicians to solve network problems even faster, ZTS also short-cuts the network tracing learning curve for less experienced technicians. The biggest challenge for less experienced technicians is knowing what part of a network to trace and then interpreting the results of the trace so a problem can be averted or network bandwidth restored, Graham Storey, vice president of marketing, at William Data Systems, tells 5 Minute Briefing.

News From SHARE

SHARE in San Francisco kicked off yesterday and will continue through Friday. If you were not able to travel to the event, you can still be a part of the audience with SHARE Live!, the virtual event option.

Think About It

A new survey of 200 IT managers by OneLogin finds enterprises are rife with unsafe password management. At least 43% of respondents admit that employees manage passwords in spreadsheets or on sticky notes, and 34% share passwords with their co-workers for applications like FedEx, Twitter, Staples, and LinkedIn. Another 20% experienced an employee still being able to login after leaving the company. Password management has been a difficult challenge long before mainframes were connected to the internet. Now, with cloud and software as a service, the stakes are even greater